FRANCOGENE:
Acadian
genealogy.

A bit of history.

Acadia's name originates from Arcadia, a district in Ancient Greece.
Named
thus by a navigator who was impressed by its pastoral setting and
beauty.
According to a less reliable source, its name originated rather with
the
word `Cadie' designating the little houses in which the Acadians
lived;
but this hypothesis seems unfounded as the name `Acadia' was used
long
before Acadia was settled. Note that the name `Acadian' was
transformed
into `Cajun' in Louisiana. The English pronunciation of "Acadien"
explains
its spelling (Acadien - Acadjunn - Cajun).

The colonization of Acadia starts just a bit before Quebec's,
with the
founding of Port Royal in 1605. Except for some short periods of
British
occupation, Acadia remained French up to 1713. Up to 1713, Acadia
was made
up of the present Atlantic provinces of Canada (New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island then known as Ile St-Jean and some parts of
Newfoundland.
In 1713, a part of Acadia is definitely ceded to Britain, that is
Nova
Scotia with the exception of Cape Breton where was situated the
fortress
of Louisbourg. What corresponds to New Brunswick is claimed by
both France
and England, but remains under French control until 1755.

The Acadians continued to work their farms in the region until
1755,
when a British governor decided to give the farms to British
settlers and,
in consequence, ordered the Deportation of the Acadians (le Grand
Dérangement).
In 1755, 7,000 Acadians are put on ships and sent to American
colonies.
Some authors estimate that half of those Acadians did not survive
to exile.
10,000 others were able to run away to French Acadia but when
French Forts
were defeated, many of them were killed.

There was a period of disorder. Many Acadians are scattered in
England,
then in France from where many of them sailed to Louisiana (most
did so
in about 1785) or Îles St-Pierre et Miquelon. A part of
those use
run away thru the lands were found later in Québec. The
main concentration
is in Northern New-Brunswick.

Very few parish registers survived the " Grand Derangement ".
Thus,
Acadian genealogy is rife with "unknowns" : many of the links in
Acadian
"dictionaries" are really hypothetical assumptions.